


I Promise You an Eternity

by lifeofdeathh



Category: Gintama
Genre: Confessions, Fluff, Hanami, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Roses, Vice Commander Sakata, Wedding Rings, Weddings, Yorozuya Toushi, how did i end up here, i lost 10 years of my life writing this, it's ok though at least these dorks love each other, sakura trees, this turned into a fix-it???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28621851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeofdeathh/pseuds/lifeofdeathh
Summary: Fives times Gintoki said "marry me" and the one time Toushirou said "I do."
Relationships: Hijikata Tamegorou & Hijikata Toshirou, Hijikata Toshirou & Kagura, Hijikata Toshirou & Shimura Shinpachi, Hijikata Toshirou/Sakata Gintoki, Kondou Isao & Sakata Gintoki, Okita Sougo & Sakata Gintoki
Comments: 20
Kudos: 104
Collections: Gintama THE FINAL: The Compressed Timeline Mini Reverse Bang Fanworks Event





	I Promise You an Eternity

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I have had 5 hours of sleep, one coffee, 328947982 hours of sitting here staring at the screen and I present to you THIS STORY.
> 
> So anyway! This is my first time writing vice commander Sakata x Yorozuya Toushi, and I took the liberty to mess around a bit with their backstories to fit my liking. 
> 
> The artwork included is drawn by the wonderful sajtkifli! You are the nicest and most understanding person and I genuinely hope you have a great life! \o/
> 
> Please enjoy! And please do leave me with some of your thoughts if you so desire.
> 
> *At the place where you see the asterisk, please read with "Beautiful in White" by Westlife in the background, I had that song on loop for an hour.

**1) I’ll never forget the first time I saw your face**

Sakata Gintoki starts his new life behind a gravestone layered in snow, listening to a boy on the other side eat crackers and tell stories to his late sister. He asks for a cracker, and the boy looks at him with piercing red eyes that remind him of his own.

“Who are you?” The boy asks, sandy hair flaked with white.

“I’ll tell you if you give me a cracker.”

“You’ll have to ask my sister.”

“Talk to your sister? You kidding? I can’t talk to dead people, I’m not a necromancer.”

“She’s too nice to curse you, but I will.” But the boy hands him a cracker regardless.

Gintoki takes a bite, and chokes at how spicy it is.

There is no way that girl does not have the nerve to curse someone from beyond the grave if _this_ is what she eats on a daily basis.

“Now you can tell me who you are.”

**oO0Oo**

“Danna.”

Gintoki peels open a reluctant eye from his perch on the sunny porch, taking his third afternoon nap of the day. “What do you want?” He drawls, squinting against sunlight at the figure silhouetted above him. He should probably know the boy’s name by this point, but he never really bothered. It might have been Sofa-kun though.

“We’re leaving for the sakura viewing party now.”

“Finally. The atmosphere here is suffocating.” He drags himself off the ground and follows Souichirou out of the compounds, making small talk and joining the chattering black mass just outside the gates like elementary students going on a fieldtrip.

There’s really not much difference.

Walking besides the sadist, he randomly tunes in to the conversations floating about the summer air.

“I hear the Yorozuya’s gonna be there too.”

“The one Otae-san’s little brother started?”

“Yeah, I heard they got a new boss!”

Several men immediately clump around.

“Any idea who it is?”

“How did you hear?”

“Who told you?”

“Come on, spill it!”

“I don’t know either, it’s just a rumor around town.”

Curiosity gets the better of him, and Gintoki elbows whoever is walking next to him, Jimmy-kun, it turns out, apparently Souichirou had run off at some point.

“What’s this Yorozuya they’re talking about? Some kind of mafia gang?”

“Ah, vice commander,” the man seems a bit surprised to be suddenly addressed. “It’s the small business that lives in the upstairs apartment of Snack Otose in the Kabuki district,” he says. “The boss used to be Shinpachi-kun, Otae-san’s younger brother.”

“The violent lady that the gorilla is always stalking?”

“That’s her.” Gintoki inwardly shudders. He hasn’t even interacted with the woman and he finds himself very much wanting to stay _away_ from her. Their commander’s taste really is beyond him. “Apparently there’s a new boss now, though,” Jimmy continues. “I hear they’re finally paying rent.”

“We’re here!” Comes the announcement from the front, and Gintoki lifts his eyes to sakura petals against late afternoon sunlight. He inhales the languid air, and accidentally chokes on one.

They spend the next few minutes trying to keep him from dying a very undignified death.

What ends up saving him is something slamming into his back with the force of a thousand bowling balls. On the bright side, it gets the petal out of his windpipe, on the not so bright side, it may as well have killed him.

“Kagura-chan!” Through his practically comatose state, Gintoki hears a young boy’s voice draw close, followed by frantic apologies to the men standing around him. Then the weight on his back (it’s a miracle his spine hasn’t broken) is pulled away. He stays sprawled on the ground for another good minute before he finally finds it in himself to groan and clamber to his feet, rubbing at his head where it smacked against the ground. Looking up, he is greeted with the sight of a teenage boy whose glasses are his most character defining feature fretting at an even younger girl with orange hair, sucking on a strip of some food he doesn’t recognize and doesn’t want to.

The Shinsengumi seems familiar enough with them though, because soon the two kids are surrounded by black uniforms and drowned in questions.

“Ne Shinpachi-kun, I heard you guys have a new boss?”

“Who is it?”

“Anyone we know?”

“I hear he’s finally paying rent?”

Right as the boy seems about to pass out from the rapid fire, a deep voice cuts across the viewing field.

“Shinpachi, Kagura, what’s going on!”

The Shinsengumi’s men freeze, and the two kids seize their chance and scramble away from the crowd towards someone in a blue and white yukata, who promptly gives both of them a smack over the head then a scolding.

The Shinsengumi’s men gape.

The girl, Kagura, Gintoki assumes, doesn’t even flinch, and instead grabs the man’s sleeve and starts pulling him towards the Shinsengumi, blabbing something all the while.

Gintoki randomly grabs someone next to him, turns out to be Jimmy-kun, again, and asks, “what’s going on? Why is everyone acting like they just saw a ghost?” He tries to discreetly peep around to make sure that’s not the case. “Why did no one ever tell me about the supernatural side of Edo? Huh?”

“That’s not it, vice commander,” Jimmy replies. “That’s-”

“Hijikata-san.” Sofa-kun says, bored, flat, but with a layer of underlying aggression. “Fancy meeting you here.”

The man finally pulls his arm out of Kagura’s grasp and turns to face the first division commander, and Gintoki gets the first good look at his face.

The first thing he notes are the _ridiculous_ V-shaped bangs he sports, and he is immediately judging the other for his obviously nonexistent sense of style when he suddenly finds himself examining the man’s face.

Now Gintoki isn’t one for being sappy, but the world _definitely_ stops spinning in that moment, because gods be damned if he hasn’t just laid eyes on an illegally and quite elusively beautiful man, all piercing gunmetal eyes and arched brows and tight lips.

His instincts move before he can stop them, and he shoves an advancing Souichirou out of the way, finding himself staring right into blue eyes sharp enough to cut steel.

He drops to one knee and tells him, “marry me.”

In return, he gets a “ _who the hell is this creep?!!_ ”, a bokuto to the head, and one sakura matsuri spent unconscious.

**2) Don’t run where I can’t follow**

Something is off about the ship.

Before they board for their supposed job, he warns the kids to be careful.

Shinpachi sticks by him, and as they carry box after box into the ship’s basement, following the men who employed them, Toushirou keeps half an eye on Kagura. The yato girl can work, alright, but Toushirou has learned that it takes quite a bit of bribing to get her in the mood. He sets down another box, his guard continuing to climb at the smell it exudes, too similar to gunpowder for his liking.

As he turns around to check on Kagura again, his suspicions are confirmed.

The ship rocks violently, and everyone in the basement is thrown to the side, Toushirou barely having the time to grab onto Shinpachi to keep the boy from hitting the wooden planks head first and earning himself a concussion.

The bokuto breaks out of its resting place, and one gesture brings the two of them sprinting up the stairs and into the chaos of someone screeching order after order and men scrambling to do what they’re told. 

“Kagura!!” Damn that girl, where did she run off to now?

He’s about to run back down to see if she got left behind when the hairs on the back of his neck spike, and he brings the bokuto up just in time to block an assaulting katana, finding himself face to face with one Shinsengumi commander.

Kondou seems to recognize the subject of his attack at the same time, and there’s a falter in his technique that Toushirou seizes. He brings his weapon to the side so forcefully that Kondou loses his balance, and takes the stairs three at a time.

As much awkward tension as there still is between him and the Shinsengumi, he still trusts them in situations like this (other than the bastard with a silver perm, he’s been nothing but a pain in the ass), especially when it comes to the matter of putting Shinpachi in Kondou’s care.

He finds Kagura blasting one of their employers into oblivion with her umbrella, and yanks her to him right as the ship’s floors cave in, broken planks piled where she’d been standing two seconds ago. 

“Stop running off like that,” he snarls, and smacks her on the head.

“But Toushi-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” he snaps, pulling her back towards the top, where he immediately crosses blades with the captain of the ship. He parries a strike the man aims at his left and returns with one of his own, feinting to his head before driving the dull blade into his abdomen. It leaves the man gasping for breath, and Toushirou kicks him to the side while Kagura fires her umbrella again. He scans the ship and finds Shinpachi fighting side by side with Kondou, the whole stalker business put aside for now.

Then the unmistakable tang of gunpowder assaults his senses, and suddenly the enemy’s men are clambering away from battle and diving into the water, and it hits him.

“Kondou-san!” The commander’s head snaps up. “Get off the ship! It’s gonna blow!!” 

Reactions are rapid, and the Shinsengumi’s men are organized and swift in their escape into the awaiting lifeboats below.

“Yorozuya!” He recognizes the voice. It’s the perm, the one with a freakish obsession with parfaits and strawberry milk. “Over here!” He looks up to see him gesturing for them to join him in the lifeboat besides him. Of course, under normal circumstances, Toushirou would have taken literally _anything_ else rather than owe a debt to the Shinsengumi’s vice commander, but circumstances in this case aren’t exactly normal. So he gestures for the kids to follow him, and they make a break for the small vessel.

They are two steps away when Toushirou catches a sailor raising his sword behind the vice commander.

The sailor brings his sword down, and at the same time, Gintoki yells, “GET DOWN!”

Toushirou drops to the ground as the kids jump into the boat, sliding the last few meters under Gintoki’s arm and bringing the bokuto in an upwards arc. It catches the sailor on the chin and sends him careening over the side.

Behind him, he hears a dull thump, and he knows that the man chasing him across the deck has met his end at the tip of Gintoki’s blade.

“Let’s go!” Somebody grabs his hand, and they pile into the lifeboat.

**oO0Oo**

The boat hits the water, Gintoki grabbing onto the side to keep from toppling over. If he had known that being vice commander meant raiding ships on the ocean, where there's _water_ , he definitely would _not_ have signed up. And right as he thinks they can go back and _away_ from water, a cry brings his attention back to the ship, where he sees their resident gorilla locked in combat with a man built like a small mountain, still stranded while the bomb ticks away.

Damn, maybe he _really_ shouldn't have taken the offer.

“JUMP!!!” He screams, hands clutching the sides of the boat hard enough to crack the wood, silently cursing his absolute lack of affinity to water.

Then the mountain man brings his sledgehammer into Kondou’s side, and the bomb detonates, shattering the ship with a deafening _BOOM_.

A chorus of frantic screams for their commander rises around Gintoki, but before anyone can do a thing, someone dives into the water beside him, white yukata flaring like the wings of a crane, proud frame silhouetted against angry red flames.

“Toushi!”

“Toushirou-san!”

The kids join him at the boat’s edge, and Gintoki has to scramble back to keep the boat from tipping over, scanning the dark waters over and over and over.

One second passes, then two, then five, ten, twelve-

They burst out of the water just a little ways from the lifeboat. With a few strokes, Toushirou brings them into reach, and Gintoki pulls Kondou onto the boat as the children reach for their boss, but they don’t reach him.

Gintoki spots the danger a second before it comes, and his warning comes once more too late when a large piece of debris slams into the back of Hijikata’s head. He goes under, his hand just missing Shinpachi’s by a centimeter.

Something in him snaps, and Gintoki leaps onto a piece of driftwood next to where Hijikata had disappeared, keeping one hand anchored when he goes headlong into the water. The cold waves crash over him, ice on his eyelids, his face, crowding and blocking his senses. He tries to open eyes to look for Hijikata, but the sting catches him off guard, and by pure instinct alone, he breaks the surface, sputtering and rubbing at his eyes, trying to see through his tangle of soaked curls. His eyes dart over the stretch of water, searching and searching, and there! He sees a flash of white beneath the waves, and takes a deep breath before plunging back into the water’s unwelcomed embrace, reaching blindly, one hand still clutching to the driftwood like his life depends on it.

Which, you know, it does.

Finally, he latches onto the sleeve of Hijikata’s yukata, and he yanks it towards him until he can wrap his hand around his wrist. Then he’s kicking and flailing and pulling at the driftwood to get up up _up_. 

He breaks the water’s surface and takes a huge gulp of air, just to convince himself water isn’t some evil spirit that’s already imprisoned his soul. Then he pulls at Hijikata until he resurfaces too, coughing and gasping for breath, a trickle of blood trailing his neck.

“Grab on!” Someone calls, and a rope falls in front of him. Gathering himself, Gintoki shoves away from the driftwood, the water momentarily dragging him down and down and down before he grabs onto the rope. Then he’s being pulled towards the boat, and he latches onto the side when Shinpachi and Kagura bring their boss onboard while Kondou offers Gintoki a lift.

There’s a bit of fretting at first, but when it becomes apparent that none of the three wet cats aboard would die, the kids and Kondou start arguing about rowing and oars and Patsuan’s sister.

Gintoki takes the chance to slump down next to Hijikata, and peers at his unconscious form, this man who turned out to be an asshole with a freakish mayonnaise addiction and no sense of style. His bangs are wet and plastered to his forehead, his hair sticking out all over the place. Quite a contrast from the usual neat look.

As he stares, probably quite shamelessly, Hijikata’s eyes flutter open.

His eyelashes are long, Gintoki thinks, and they frame his shockingly blue eyes well. Stray droplets of water dangle upon them, and in the light of the late afternoon sun, they sparkle like the reflection of stars on ocean waves and ocean blue eyes, a bit glazed but still sharp.

“Why did you jump in? You can’t even swim,” is the first thing he says when he seems to gain enough coherence back to make a full sentence.

“What? Are you worried about me? Is the Yorozuya’s cold heart finally melted by my burning passion?”

“Like hell! Who in the right mind would be worried about the likes of you?”

“Is that any way to treat your savior?? Hijikata-kun, if this were in the olden days, You’d have to marry me to show your endless gratitude!”

This time, there is no driftwood to catch him when Hijikata shoves him overboard.

**3) If I give you these roses, will you give me your heart?**

If someone were to tell him a year ago that he’d spend his precious time on trying to woo a mayonnaise addict whose destiny is to inevitably die of lung cancer, Gintoki would have stuck out his tongue in disgust and laughed in their face. Yet something about Hijikata Toushirou of the Yorozuya drew Gintoki to him. It may be that their constant bickering reinvigorates him in a way patrols and drills can’t, or that the odd similarities in their personalities and the fire in blue eyes reminds him of a time before the war, when dreams flew without the obstruction of fire and smoke and tears.

So he chases him, engages him in their daily battle of wits, and for a while that was enough. But he should have known that feelings grow like weeds. So at some point, he had started trying to win his heart, but time after time he fails. He even tried giving him mayonnaise!

Although maybe the bottle _did_ explode in Hijikata’s face, so that doesn’t really help his chance, but that was all Souichirou! He swears!

He files for a day off anyway, and stops by the flower shop.

“Ah, Sakata-san,” the old man greets him with a kind smile that wrinkles his eyes.

“Do you have roses?” He asks, stopping at the counter and looking around the shop. He has absolutely zero experience with flowers, if not in the negatives, but even he knows roses are supposed to be romantic.

Or something like that.

“Of course,” the old man says, and gestures for Gintoki to follow him. “What color would you like?”

“Uhhhhhh-”

The old man chuckles at his ignorance, and pulls back a curtain to reveal a section of the store dedicated to roses. Red ones, orange ones, pink ones, white, yellow, anything under the sun.

“It depends on your intention, Sakata-san. Is this for some lucky girl? Or just a friend to show your appreciation?”

“A…” he pauses, but then decides to just go with it. “Yeah, a, um, a girl.”

“Well, then you’ll need red ones,” the old man says, and pulls out a bouquet holder, picking out a bundle of the purest red roses. “And you may want peach for getting together, and maybe even lavender if it's love at first sight.” He pauses, and turns to look at Gintoki, as if asking permission, and after a moment of hesitation, Gintoki nods, averting his eyes.

Love at first sight, huh.

Like hell.

But he lets the old man pick out lavender and peach roses, arranging them expertly in a quite pretty bouquet, scattered like little stars among a sea of brilliant red. Then he leads him back to the counter, and hands him the bundle while Gintoki slides the yen across to him.

He thanks him and makes to leave, but the old man speaks up again.

“Oh and Sakata-san, if it all goes well, I’d like to meet her some time.”

“Ahh,” Gintoki rubs the back of his neck, trying to force the climbing flush back down. “Um…”

“Yeah,” he ends up saying. “Yeah, I’ll bring her.”

The old man smiles again. “I look forward to it.”

**oO0Oo**

The streets are blissfully empty, Edo’s residents driven into their homes by the stifling summer sun. Gintoki stands in the shadows of an alleyway, himself looking for escape from the fate of a roasted duck. That’s when he catches sight of the three people of the Yorozuya walking along the street.

The kids are chasing each other around, scuffling and teasing until the girl catches glasses off guard and tackles him to the ground, at which point Hijikata, looking like he’s been holding back for a long time, turns and yells for them to quiet down. Scrambling off the ground, the kids salute him with a quick “yessir!” but immediately go back to their shenanigans the moment his back is turned. 

Gintoki has a feeling that he knows, but just can’t bother to stop them again.

He looks at the bouquet in his hand, and wonders whether he’s making the biggest mistake of his life.

“Yorozuya!”

The three halt, and Gintoki forces himself to approach, flowers hidden behind his back.

“Sakata-san,” Patsuan greets, curiosity gleaming in his eyes behind those round glasses.

“Toushi, you didn’t tell me you have a date!” Kagura immediately rounds on her boss, hands on her waist like an unsatisfied mother.

“I- _what?!_ ” Hijikata snaps. “I don’t have a date!”

“Then what’s Gin-chan doing here??” She accuses, tugging on Hijikata’s yukata. “If you go on a date with Gin-chan does that mean we’ll have a stable income? Are you going out to eat? Can you bring me back sukonbu if you do-”

“I’m not going on a date!!!”

“Sakata-san, is there anything we can do for you?” Glasses asks while Hijikata tries to get Kagura off his tail.

“Yeah!” She suddenly perks up, abandoning her harassment to join Patsuan. “What do you want?”

“I’m gonna talk about adult stuff with your boss,” he drawls. “So be good children and run along back home.”

Kagura gasps, immediately backpedaling to stand by Hijikata, wrapping her arms around him.

“You can’t do that! You’re going to corrupt him when I’m not looking! And you’re gonna do it with whatever is behind your back!”

“Yeah, Sakata-san, what are you hiding?” Glasses asks, eyes narrowing.

“I’ll tell you when you’re older,” Gintoki deadpans.

Kagura looks at him, absolute distrust in childish eyes, and tightens her hold on her boss. “I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s behind your back!”

Hijikata shoves her off. “Get lost,” he says, eyebrows ticking in annoyance. “Go keep Sadaharu company or something.”

“Toushiiii-” And back on him she goes.

“Ok ok fine fine!” Hijikata sighs, pushing Kagura off him again. “If you go home now, I’ll bring you back some sukonbu. Satisfied??”

She was probably waiting for that, because the moment the words leave his mouth, Kagura jumps into the air, whooping, before grabbing Shinpachi and taking off down the dust road with a “let’s go, Pachi!”

Hijikata rubs a hand over his face, muttering a “I don’t get enough mayonnaise for this” before turning back to Gintoki, familiar hostility in his eyes.

“What do you want?”

So maybe Gintoki is starting to regret this. Just a bit.

“Hey so, listen, uh-”

“Spit it out!”

Here goes nothing.

“I like you! Ok?” It bursts out, and he holds out the roses, and he plows on before Hijikata can respond, trying not to take note of the way the Yorozuya goes completely silent. “No, you know what, scratch that, I _love_ you. I don’t know when it started, and I don’t know if I want to know, but it happened, and I’m done beating around the bush. I’m done pretending there’s nothing there. And I’m done acting like you’re just some random asshole on the street I can’t stand.

“Because that’s _not_ what you are. I don’t even _know_ what you are. You’re- you’re this mystery that I can’t wrap my head around, like that one math problem on the homework I _just can’t solve_ . Don’t you understand? You’re- no, I’ve come this far, let me finish. You’re special. You have this- this fire that I don’t remember. And since some god forsaken time, because apparently the heavens hate me, I can’t go a day without feeling like something is missing if we don’t have one of our dumb arguments. It’s stupid and it’s selfish but I _need_ you, Hijikata, you make me want to _live_.”

He stops, and waits, and watches the shock ebb in Hijikata's eyes, to be replaced by something stranger. Gintoki feels his heart slam against his ribcage, and he thinks that if the Yorozuya doesn’t say something soon, he’ll probably die from a heart attack.

“Tch. You don’t mean that,” Hijikata finally says, and despite the scoff, it’s not something that laughs at Gintoki’s foolishness, no. It’s softer, almost unsure, as if no one has ever looked him in the eye and told him he is worth something. So Gintoki holds the ocean blue gaze.

“I’m dead serious,” he says. “Because if you say no I might as well go jump off a bridge.”

There are a few more moments of quiet, and Hijikata looks like he’s searching for something in Gintoki’s eyes, his soul, like he wants to make sure this isn’t just some cruel joke. Then he says, “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.”

Gintoki’s heart sinks into his feet, and all his bravado from a moment ago packs their bags and flies out the window. He nods, defeated, and lowers the flowers, already visualizing the different bridges Edo has to offer, but something catches his hand, and takes the bouquet from his grasp.

Shocked but suddenly selfishly, pathetically hopeful, he looks up and sees Hijikata holding the roses in one hand, the other around Gintoki’s own wrist. 

“Kagura will never let me hear the end of this."

He is absolutely certain that such drastic changes in emotion are not good for his heart, but Gintoki now feels like fireworks are going off in his chest. When he smiles at Hijikata, he thinks it might be a little shaky, a little nervous.

“Is that a yes?”

**oO0Oo**

“Why are we going to a flower shop??” Toushirou asks, even as he follows Gintoki away from the Yorozuya and out into the street.

“Someone wants to meet you,” the vice commander replies, pulling at his shirt collar and muttering a complaint about how the uniform is too stifling for this weather.

Toushirou frowns, searching his mind for someone that would want to meet with him in the area that he doesn’t already know. He gives up after a while though, because all that comes to mind is the pleasant old man who runs the shop. Toushirou actually visits quite often just to drop a greeting, as he was the one who introduced him to the Yorozuya in the first place, when he had just left the Roshigumi with nothing but the clothes on his back.

“Come on,” Gintoki suddenly grabs his hand and starts pulling him along. “I snuck out of patrol for this, I’m in a bit of a time crunch.”

“Why the hell would you do that??” Toushirou berates, annoyed. “Your job is important! And let go of me, people are watching!”

“Doesn’t matter!” Gintoki retorts. “It’s not like your little brain child hasn’t told everyone already.”

Toushirou doesn’t have a come back for that one, because the moment he had come home with sukonbu for Kagura and a bouquet of roses, the little girl had shot out the door to announce the big news to just about everyone in town. 

Soon enough, they reach the flower shop, and Gintoki calls a greeting. The old man responds in kind.

“Sakata-san,” he says. “Have you brought- ah, Toushirou-san!” the old man gives Toushirou a big smile. “It’s been a while, how have you been? How are the kids?”

Toushirou gives him a small smile back. “Energetic, annoying, nothing new. How has business been?”

“Good, good,” the old man assures, then turns to Gintoki. “I see you are a man of your word,” he seems to tease, lightly gesturing to Toushirou. “And of good taste.”

And it hits him.

“Did you really just bring me here to tell him about,” he gestures vaguely between them. “This?” Gintoki nods, and Toushirou buried his face in his hands.

Ridiculous.

“Ne jii-san,” Gintoki suddenly says, leaning on the counter. Toushirou levels him with a wary glare. “How would you feel about having another chat the day I finally get this moron to marry me?”

_Smack._

“Ow!”

The old man chuckles, “I’d love to.”

**4) New Year’s Day is no time for threats**

The clock strikes.

Once, twice, thrice… 

**oO0Oo**

“105, 106, 107, 108!!” With the last ring of the clock, Kagura bounces out of her seat and grabs Toushirou’s arm, gesturing to glasses to give her a hand. “Toushi Toushi! It’s time for otoshidama, yes? You promised we would get our otoshidamas if we worked hard this year!”

“I pay you, don’t I?” Toushirou shoots back, waving her off. “And I never promised anything.”

“Toushirou-san,” Shinpachi cuts in. “You said that you would reward us on New Year’s if we have enough money to spare.”

“And we do! Don’t we, Toushi!” Kagura declares, tugging on Toushirou’s sleeve again.

“You did say that,” comes a voice from behind Gintoki, and he turns to see the owner of the snack bar herself leaning against the counter, a cigarette between her lips and watching the Yorozuya residents with a light smirk. Toushirou gives her half a glare, but huffs a sigh and complies with the kids’ nagging.

“Alright, alright! Wait here,” he says, pushing himself off the couch where he sat, left side against Gintoki’s right. On his way out, Gintoki sees him grumble a greeting to the rest of the Shinsengumi’s members as they file in.

“Yo, Gin!” Kondou calls, plopping down next to his vice commander in the spot Toushirou had just vacated, slapping his back in greeting.

“Yo, gori,” he responds, idly swirling the drink in his hand as the snack Otose slowly fills up with familiar chatter and the sound of men trying to outdo each other. 

He hears the old lady respond with exasperation to the Shinsengumi’s orders for food, Souichirou and Kagura locked in their usual cat fight, and Yamazaki having a plain conversation with the just-as-plain Shinpachi. 

Then Kagura suddenly breaks away and tackles the doorway. Or more specifically, Toushirou standing in the doorway, grabbing the envelope from his hands.

“I knew you were hiding something!” She announces happily, waving the envelope victoriously in the air. That is, until Sougo waltzes right up to her and snatches it out of her grasp. With a vicious, offended gasp, she leaps upon him, and the two teens tumble out into the snow, nearly plowing over Toushirou again.

Gintoki chuckles, and hears Kondou suddenly halt the conversation he is having with the baldy. He looks over, and sees Kondou watching him.

“What?”

“He’s a good kid,” Kondou replies after a pause, and directs his line of sight back to the door, where Toushirou hands a very expectant-looking Shinpachi his envelope as well, then pulls his scarf tighter when the boy thanks him and hops off outside. Gintoki raises an eyebrow.

“Baa-san, can we have two servings of toshikoshi soba!” Kondou calls out, and the old hag turns to yell some more at her cat assistant, who snaps something back but gets to work anyway. “He used to be one of us,” the commander continues, turning back to Gintoki.

There is an audible smack by the door, and they look up to see Toushirou sprawled on the ground, what remains of a snowball still on his face.

“Little bastards!!!” He rages, clambering to his feet and sprinting outside to punish the assailant, yelling something about seppuku all the way.

“He was quite the brat, you know. Bad enough to make Tetsu and his gang look like babies,” Kondou continues, thanking Tama for the soba and pushing a bowl to Gintoki. “Gin,” he says. “Are you familiar with the term ‘baragaki’?”

Gintoki nods. It was used quite frequently in the times during and following the war. “For brats who prick you if you get too close.”

“Yeah. ‘Baragaki Toushi,’ that’s what they used to call him back in Bushuu. He’d go around, pick fights with all the big gangs just to become stronger. Reckless, that one was,” he pauses to slurp some noodles, then goes on. “He was a rich farmer’s bastard son. Little thing who didn’t surface until his old man bit it and his mom was too sick to take care of him. His family hated him, like he was some worthless bastard who had no place in their place of honor.”

Gintoki eats his own noodles, and thinks about the way Toushirou told him, so surely, _“you don’t mean that.”_

“But the heir to the home, Hijikata Tamegorou-san, he was a good man, and he took Toushi under his wing. But one day their village caught fire, and some bandits took the opportunity to attack Toushi. His brother lost his eyes to protect him, and when he came to again, he was clutching a knife, surrounded by eyeless bandits, dried eyeballs on the floor and his terrified siblings staring at him. He couldn’t be with his beloved brother anymore after that, and so he vowed to become strong enough to protect those he loved.”

Gintoki thinks, imagines Toushirou in his teen years, ponytail flying and bokuto in hand, challenging and fighting those so much stronger than him just to fulfill a promise he once made to himself.

“That’s how I found him,” Kondou says. “Beaten to a pulp by one of the larger gangs in the area. I thought he had potential, so I took him into my dojo. He met the rest of the men there, especially Sougo, and his sister.”

_“Who are you?” The boy asks, sandy hair flaked with white._

_“I’ll tell you if you give me a cracker.”_

_“You’ll have to ask my sister.”_

_“Talk to your sister? You kidding? I can’t talk to dead people, I’m not a necromancer.”_

_“She’s too nice to curse you, but I will.”_

“Mitsuba-dono was the sweetest girl you’d ever meet, and she loved him. He loved her too, but he always thought that a life by the sword can’t give her the happiness she deserves, so he rejected her, and we left her back in Bushuu when we came here to form the Roshigumi.”

“But she died,” Gintoki says. Kondou nods, a sad smile playing at his lips.

“She was always frail, and she was so focused on taking care of Sougo after their parents passed away that she completely neglected her own health. It was not long after that that tensions ran too high, and Toushi left so that Sougo could stay.” As if on cue, Sougo and Kagura tumble back into the shack, both thoroughly soaked, Shinpachi following close behind. “You know, Gin, he was gonna have your position.”

Gintoki nods. He had suspected as much. 

“But we wouldn’t have it any other way,” Kondou says, giving Gintoki a big smile before he straightens, and sets down his empty bowl. “You’re both good people,” he tells him. “You’ll do well together.” 

“Oi gori,” Gintoki says without much thought. “If I ask the bastard to marry me some day, do you think he’d say yes?”

“He would.” Before Kondou can respond, Shinpachi cuts in.

“Sakata-san,” the boy says, suddenly sounding very mature. “Toushirou-san really does love you, even if he’s mean sometimes. And you know too, he’s the type of person to always keep everything to himself. So if you do him wrong, Kagura-chan and I won’t hesitate to act on his behalf.” Gintoki chuckles at the light threat, looking up at Kagura and Sougo basically plowing the whole place down, and thanks the gods he won’t be on the receiving end of that unbridled yato strength.

Kondou laughs heartily, and leans back against the couch. “Don’t worry, Gin, the Shinsengumi are right here to do the same for you.”

Gintoki scoffs, but he knows they’re serious, the both of them.

“Ne Shinpachi-kun!” Kondou suddenly pounces. “How has Otae-san been? Has she been asking about me? Come on Shinpachi-kun, you can tell me! I’ll be your future brother-in-law after all!!”

When Gintoki makes his way outside, the boy is still trying to fend off the ever nagging commander.

He finds Toushirou just outside, as he thought he might, a cigarette dangling lightly between his lips and hands hidden in the sleeves of his yukata to stave off the cold. 

“Hey,” he says, joining him below the roof’s overhang, watching snowflakes tumble down like little fairy lights. 

“Hey.”

They are still a moment, then Gintoki settles a hand on the back of Toushirou’s head and pulls him into his chest.

“Whoa whoa, what’s going on? Hey!”

“I love you, Toushirou.”

He can feel more than see Toushirou’s confusion, but after a few moments of stiffness, he relaxes into the embrace, arms coming up to wrap around Gintoki’s back.

He feels Toushirou’s head settle comfortably into the crook of his neck, and Gintoki allows himself a content sigh.

They separate after a few moments, standing side by side to admire the flurries of snowfall, the chatter of the party behind them.

“Gin! Toushi!” They both turn at Kondou’s voice, and see the commander, obviously a little tipsy, gesturing wildly at them. “We’re toasting to the new year!!”

Gintoki heads inside first, and Toushirou follows, both of them picking up a glass on their way, joining the rest of the partygoers around the largest table in the place.

“To an amazing year ahead!! And may Otae-san-” Kondou doesn’t get to finish before Shinpachi shoves him out of the way.

“May the best be with all of you!!” He says, and raises his hand (Toushirou forbids him from touching alcohol as a minor). The men take the hint, and they all raise their drink, glasses clinking and drinks flying.

“KANPAI!!”

**5) I’ll let you know I saved 5 solid months of pay for this ring**

“Danna.”

Gintoki peels open a reluctant eye from his perch on the sunny porch, taking his third afternoon nap of the day. “What do you want?” He drawls, squinting against sunlight at the figure silhouetted above him. 

“We’re leaving for the sakura viewing party now.”

“Finally. The atmosphere here is suffocating.” He drags himself off the ground and follows Souichirou out of the compounds, making small talk and joining the chattering black mass just outside the gates like elementary students going on a fieldtrip.

There’s really not much difference.

Walking besides the sadist, he randomly tunes in to the conversations floating about the summer air.

“When are the Yorozuya gonna get there?”

“Is it really happening today?”

“Yeah! I heard the commander and vice commander talking about it the other day.”

Several men immediately clump around.

“Is there anything we’re going to do?”

“How is he gonna do it?”

“No wonder he hasn’t been out to pachinko for so long!”

“I bet he’s been saving up.”

“Of course something is happening today, do you see how formal he looks?”

“Ahem.” 

The men all jump at his voice, and after a bit of stammering, quickly making up pathetic excuses to run away and leave poor Jimmy to face him.

“V-vice commander?” The spy ventures. “Is there anything we can do to, um-”

“We’re here!” Comes the announcement from the front, and Gintoki lifts his eyes to sakura petals against late afternoon sunlight.

Two years, huh.

Sure goes fast.

“Gin-chan!” The call draws his attention to the kids sprinting towards him, jumping and waving. He raises a hand in greeting, but before they reach him, the Shinsengumi’s men cut them off with rapid fire questions.

“Ne Shinpachi-kun, do you know about what’s gonna happen today?”

“You have to know.”

“Come on, just tell us!”

“It’s not like we’ll be outsiders after today.”

“Uhhh-”

“Enough!” Kagura bursts out of the tightening circle, scattering the men like bowling pins. “Gin-chan Gin-chan!” She grabs Patsuan’s hand and pulls him along to stare expectantly up at Gintoki. “You’ll buy sukonbu for me, yes?” She interrogates, and Gintoki tries to ignore the nosy stares they’re getting, following quickly by “ooh”s and “ahh”s of confirmation.

Then, suddenly, “Danna.”

They all look up to see Sougo standing a little ways from the group, gesturing for Gintoki to join him.

“What do you-” Gintoki hastily stops Kagura with a hand on her shoulder.

“When’s he gonna get here?” He asks.

“Around half an hour,” Shinpachi reports. “How do you want us to help, Sakata-san?”

“The lights, Pachi-kun!” Kagura suddenly exclaims, grabbing Shinpachi and pulling him away, shooing the rest of the Shinsengumi’s men along as well. Gintoki watches them go before he joins Sougo, sitting amidst floating petals.

“Is it true?”

“A lot of things are true in this world, Souichirou-kun.”

“It’s Sougo. And you know what I’m talking about.”

Gintoki sits down under the tree.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“There are just some things we can’t understand,” he says, leaning forward to put his chin on his hands. “If we spend our lives trying to figure them out, don’t you think that’s a waste?”

“But why him? Why _Hijikata_ , of all people?!” Sougo watches him with those red eyes, angry and confused and…

And scared.

“Why the person that’s stolen the attention of everyone in _my_ life?!”

“He’s an asshole, alright,” Gintoki says, turning to look at the young man. “But you’ve gotta befriend a few assholes in your life, right? Then when you meet the real assholes, you’ll know what to do.”

Sougo scoffs, leaning back against the tree trunk. “He’s not my friend.”

“No,” Gintoki agrees. “He’s not.”

Sougo is quiet for a while before he speaks again. “I know he left the Roshigumi for me,” he admits. “I know he really did love my sister. But he was so _cold_ to her, didn’t even blink the day news came that she died.” He pauses, and Gintoki reaches out to grab a pink petal flying by.

“But then he left. And Kondou-san didn’t want to see him go, and it was so obvious. The same thing used to happen back at the dojo, always. He’s always taking what’s supposed to be mine.” There’s a strange desperation in his eyes when he looks like Gintoki again. “And now you too?”

Gintoki shakes his head, and pushes himself off the ground, knowing that Sougo’s eyes follow his every move.

“You’re not losing anyone,” he says, and takes advantage of the boy’s momentary confusion to reach out and ruffle sandy blonde hair. “We’ll all be right here.”

“Sakata-san!” They both turn to see the kids running towards them again, excitement lighting up their eyes.

“You’ve got quite a collection of terrible friends,” he continues. “And that’s the thing about terrible friends. You can’t ever get rid of them.”

**oO0Oo**

He doesn’t see Gintoki all afternoon.

It’s not as if he’s specifically looking for him, but it really isn’t his style to miss such a big event, especially when there’s free booze.

“Toushirou-san.” He turns, and finds himself face to face with the old owner of the flower shop.

“Jii-san, what are you doing here?” He asks, about to stand up for a better greeting when the old man motions for him to sit, and settles down next to him.

“Just watching the flowers,” he says. “They’re so beautiful this time of year.”

Toushirou dips his head in agreement, downing the sake in his cup as he watches the flower petals swirl in the breeze, the sun’s last rays coloring them all shades of red and orange.

They _are_ pretty, he thinks, in the way they seem to put their all into one last dance before their life comes to an end.

There’s a crash and some curses, and he doesn’t even need to look to know that Kagura and Sougo are up to no good again. He’s just setting down the cup and turning to yell at them to _quiet down_ when the sun dips below the horizon, and a thousand fireflies light up the night.

Like stars.

_“Toushi, see that big star? Right where the sun sets?” She used to ask him, little older than a toddler and sitting at her bedside, her gentle hand wiping away his tears when he didn’t know whether she would be alright._

_He would nod. “Yes mom.”_

_She’d ruffle his hair, and smile._

_“They say, if you can see that star when the sun is rising, you should make a wish.”_

_“Why?”_

_“Because it usually only comes out when the sun is setting, and if it waited for you until the sun rose, then it surely guards your wishes.”_

_The next day, as the sun rose, he saw the star twinkling at dawn._

_He had clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and wished long and hard._

_“I wish mom will be better soon.”_

_But the star did not guard his wish, and when he used to curl up on the porch with bruises on his legs and arms, he would ask it why, but it never gave an answer._

_The next time he saw the star at sunrise was many years later, the morning after his older brother lost his eyes to protect him._

_He was sitting by the creek, head on his knees, watching the sky lighten, when he caught the little twinkle next to the sun’s bright rays._

_That day, he had made his last selfish wish._

_“I wish I had a home.”_

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

**oO0Oo**

The way Toushirou watches the lights will remain carved into Gintoki’s heart for the rest of his life.

There is a certain sadness in his eyes, a sort of quiet reminiscence, as if the lights bring him back somewhere Gintoki hasn’t seen. They bring out his silhouette, and he remembers the first time he had ever laid eyes on the man.

He remembers the way gunmetal eyes gleamed with a certain defiance for the heavens, and the way his brows arched up at the sides when he got frustrated with the kids, the way his lips tightened at the corners when he succumbed to their nagging.

Those same features now set softly with a certain absentminded melancholy. As Gintoki watches him, he brings a hand to touch lightly just below his eye, as if to remind himself of someone who once brushed away his tears. 

Finally, he walks up to him, until his profile fills his vision.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Toushirou blinks a few times before he seems to come back to the present, and Gintoki finds himself looking into blue eyes in a rare, unguarded moment.

Toushirou looks away, turns away as if there’s a part of himself he has to lock away, but Gintoki thinks he catches the faintest nod.

Muted chatter floats in the background, and he sets a hand on Toushirou’s shoulder, turning him to face him. “Do you miss somebody?”

Toushirou doesn’t say anything, but the ripples in blue eyes tell him, yes. 

He always did wear his emotions in those eyes.

“Me too.”

The lights are like stars.

Like the stars Shouyou-sensei used to count with him, like the star that used to twinkle at sunrise.

_“I wish I could love someone without hurting them.”_

“Who?”

“Somebody special. A teacher and a friend.” Toushirou is watching him now, with that intent blue gaze.

This time, Gintoki looks away first, and reaches into his pocket to draw out a little box.

Under brilliant whirlpools of stars, he slowly lowers himself to one knee.

“Hijikata Toushirou,” he says. “Will you marry me?”

Quiet descends upon the firefly’s forest.

He has that look in his eyes again, but it’s not so strange anymore. This time, it carries that light sadness, the one that Gintoki sees so often in the mirror when he dreams of Shouyou-sensei’s smile.

He’d like to know who it is that Toushirou thinks of in his dreams.

But there’s no rush, he thinks. One day, he will tell him of Shouyou-sensei and his smile, and one day, he will tell him of the person who used to brush away his tears like a light autumn breeze.

Until they are ready.

When Toushirou finally speaks, it’s in a voice Gintoki never thought he’d hear from a man so fiery and proud.

“Are you sure?”

“You have no idea.”

They are selfish men, Gintoki thinks, when Toushirou nods and he slips the ring onto his finger. When he stands and pulls him in. When the onlookers start cheering and Toushirou rises into the embrace and holds on tight.

But just this once, the world lets them be.

And as the crowd whoops and hollers and yells their congratulations, Gintoki sees the old man among them, clapping. When their eyes meet, the flower shop owner mouths, _a man of your word_.

Around them, the fairy lights continue to shine their lovely promise, like the star that had guarded their wishes after all.

**+1) You look so beautiful in white**

Hijikata Tamegorou is a polite and gentle man, yet there is something in his presence that demands respect.

Gintoki greets him at the gate, standing side by side with his wife, and bows his head when he shakes his hand.

“Thank you,” he says. 

The head of the Hijikata family smiles. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

“Hijikata-san.” The blind man tilts his head lightly to the source of the voice. “My name is Shimura Shinpachi,” the boy says, bowing even if Tamegorou can’t see him. “If you’ll please come with me.”

Shinpachi holds out his hand, and the lady of the house guides Tamegorou to him. When they disappear into the building, she turns to Gintoki.

“Gintoki-san,” she says. “Are you nervous?”

“Well,” he scratches the back of his head, rolling his shoulders against the black suit’s rigid material. “You could say that.”

She chuckles, and reaches out to straighten his bowtie.

“Thank you for taking the liberty to invite us,” she says, pulling back. “Knowing that boy, we’d have never found out about this. He thinks if he has too much contact with his brother, people will look down on the Hijikata family.” She shakes her head with a light smile. “Still so tight lipped, after all these years.”

“All I did was go after the thing I wanted,” Gintoki replies, moving aside and gesturing for her to precede him through the gate. “And along the way, I’m the one who recovered something he’d forgotten.”

**oO0Oo**

He stares at himself in the mirror.

Blue eyes framed by a pristine white suit and neatly brushed bangs stare back.

The head dresser combs down the last stray strand of hair, tilting his head this way and that, scrutinizing his reflection for a single molecule out of place.

After about the third time the hair dresser tries to do _another_ once over, Toushirou pushes the chair back and abruptly stands up, shrugging her off.

“It looks fine!”

“Hijikata-san!” She retorts, but he ducks out of her reach.

“I said it’s fine!”

“But-”

“Toushi!”

“What are you doing here??” He nearly dives to the side just in time to avoid Kagura’s tackle hug, grabbing her to keep her from toppling over and rumpling her fluffy white dress. He has to admit, with a light tinge of pride, she looks very pretty in it, with flowers in her hair and a bracelet of tinkling silver on her wrist.

Not at all like the black hole he raises back at the Yorozuya.

“When a son gets married, his mami has to be there to act proud!”

“Who the hell is your son?!?”

“Ne Toushi, who’s gonna walk you down the aisle?” She suddenly asks. “Papi always said that someone has to walk the bride down the aisle.”

“I am _not_ a bride!!”

“So who’s gonna do it Toushi? The gorilla? I don’t trust him! What if he steals the bride? Huh? He’s done it before!”

“For the last time, I am not the bride!! And no one is walking me down the aisle, I can do that myself.”

“But Toushi-”

“One more word out of you and I’ll have you commit seppuku,” he threatens. “Now turn around, you’ve messed up your hair.”

She obeys, but chatters on, addressing the hairdresser this time.

“Nee-chan! Do you know who’s going to walk Toushi down the aisle?”

“Like I said-”

“I don’t know either, Kagura-chan,” the hairdresser interrupts him. He shoots her a glare, but she just sticks her tongue out at him. “Maybe you can ask Shinpachi-kun.”

“Stop moving!” Toushirou commands, forcefully pushing down on Kagura’s shoulder with one hand, keeping the other intertwined in a half finished braid in her hair.

“I tried looking for him, but I can’t find him anywhere,” Kagura says, and he can practically _hear_ the pout on her face. “Nee-chan, do you know where he is?”

“Preparing. Like you should be.” Toushirou remarks drily, tucking a last strand of hair under her rose orange bun. 

He gives her a pat on the shoulder when he finishes, and turns her around to make some last adjustments, nearly flailing to keep her still when she suddenly starts bouncing on the spot.

“Speak of the devil,” the hairdresser says with a smile, cleaning the counter of her supplies and organizing them into neat stacks in her bag.

“Pachi, there you are!”

“Stay still!!”

“Toushirou-san.”

“One secon- will you stop moving!” Putting all his strength into his arms, he finally gets his hands on Kagura’s crooked hair clip.

“But you said no one is going to walk you down the aisle!”

“Because no one is going to- where are you looking??”

“Toushi.”

The world screeches to a stop, and his hands freeze in Kagura’s hair.

Several seconds tick past when she prods his arm, and he suddenly remembers how to turn. But he goes slowly, afraid to go too fast lest it all disappears.

There are gray streaks in his hair.

Wrinkles around his eyes.

More calluses on his hands than Toushirou remembers.

“Toushi,” his older brother says, reaching out a hand in his direction. “Come here.”

**oO0Oo**

Gintoki still doesn’t know how or why they decided to make a giant white dog their ring bearer, but there he is, all 600 pounds of fluffy and slobbery excitement walking towards the altar. Kagura sit atop his back, giggling and throwing around the flowers in her little basket, a strand of vermillion hair trailing the side of her face, fallen out from under a lightly crooked hair clip.

They make it to the end, thank god without any incident, and Gintoki’s heart finally drops from his throat. If they had so much as stumbled, he definitely would have had a heart attack on the spot and died on his wedding day.

A breeze floats by, rustling the trees that provide sanctuary from everything they don’t want to see in the world.

It was Soyo’s idea for using the woods on the edge of the wilderness beyond Edo as a venue. She plays there a lot with Kagura, she had said, and it’s technically her brother’s territory. After all, Gintoki _is_ a government worker.

He has to say, the little girl certainly knows how to decorate.

The breeze picks up, brushing past him in a refreshing murmur, and fragile autumn leaves break off from their branches. In unison, they sweep past Gintoki’s sight, a brilliant curtain of red and yellow and orange that spins and dances and twirls across the aisle like playful spirits attending a ball.

*When they settle, scattered softly across the aisle, he sees him, a hand on his brother’s elbow, white suit perfectly pristine and bringing out every line of the sharp features that he would tease and mock and that he fell in love with and fell hard. The wind ruffles strands of raven black hair, and reveals stunning blue eyes. They watch him now, those eyes. They watch him with the intensity that had enslaved him since that very first day, when sakura petals danced between them.

His brother brings him down the aisle with practiced familiarity, and when they reach the altar, Tamegorou takes Toushirou’s hand and holds it out, as Gintoki reaches out his own. Their fingers touch and intertwine, and then Toushirou is standing with him on the altar, watching him with a smile.

There are no vows that they exchange, nothing but the promise in blue eyes and the oath in red ones. 

It’s enough. It always has been.

It always will be.

The rings are offered up, and Gintoki picks up the one he had chosen. Toushirou’s hand opens against his palm, the place where the engagement ring rested now vacant for the fulfillment of that promise.

He places the ring on his finger, and moments later feels the light kiss of metal on his own hand.

“Do you, Sakata Gintoki, take Hijikata Toushirou to be your husband, to cherish through today, tomorrow, and for as long as you both live, to trust and honor him, to love him faithfully, through the best and the worst, and if you should ever doubt, to remember why you came forth with him on this day?”

“I do.”

“Do you, Hijikata Toushirou, take Sakata Gintoki to be your husband, to cherish through today, tomorrow, and for as long as you both live, to trust and honor him, to love him faithfully, through the best and the worst, and if you should ever doubt, to remember why you came forth with him on this day?”

“I do.”

The officiant smiles, and gently closes the large book in his hand.

“You may kiss the groom.”

So Gintoki takes Toushirou’s face in his hands, and brings their lips together in a clash that promises eternity.


End file.
